Where We're Meant To Be
by TheGirlWhoRemembers
Summary: Afterwards, Bozer is feeling inspired in a culinary sense, Riley is sceptical about his plans for the next big food trend, Mac is grateful for modern medicine (but not for orange Jell-O), and Matty and a distracted Jack are reunited with the young 'uns. Tag to 3.13, Wilderness and Training and Survival.


AN: Spoilers for 3.13, Wilderness + Training + Survival.

* * *

 **A HOSPITAL**

 **SEATTLE**

* * *

'…seriously, bro, you kinda inspired me! Maybe cattails could be the next big thing in food! You know, pickle 'em, sauté them with a little butter, maybe make a side salad with a little feta…'

Riley raised an eyebrow incredulously, as Mac, lying in bed in a hospital gown, the bullet removed, wound stitched, shook his head with a smile.

'Hey, if anyone can turn cattails into a gourmet meal, it's you, Boze.' His expression grew more sheepish, full of self-deprecating humour. _'Definitely_ not me.'

Riley snorted and shook her head at both young men.

'I don't know about you two, but _I_ have had enough cattails and wilderness for a while.' She gestured at her laptop, resting on her lap as she pulled up something to keep Mac entertained and hopefully deter escape attempts. 'Yeah, it was refreshing out there…' Bozer looked incredulously at her, and Riley rolled her eyes. '…obviously, _before_ Mac got kidnapped by hardened criminals led by a guy with no conscience, but it is _awesome_ to be back in civilisation.'

Mac smiled, rather wryly, and held up his hands, nodding in agreement.

'No arguments here. I'm very grateful for modern medicine right now.'

Riley and Bozer made noises of agreement, then Riley raised her laptop onto the table that was attached to the bed, over Mac's legs. The latest season of _How It's Made_ was on-screen, which made Mac smile a little wider. Bozer tossed the hacker a bag of pretzels, and took some M&Ms for himself, nudging the Jell-O that Mac had been provided by the hospital at the blonde, who made a face.

Orange Jell-O was disgusting.

Still, it was better than cattails.

Marginally.

* * *

A little later, Matty and Jack arrived from wherever Ethan and his family had been placed into Witsec. Their boss put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at Mac.

'So, Blondie, I send you to teach a wilderness survival course, and instead, you get yourself shot and solve a bank robbery that the FBI's been trying to solve for months. Are you ever going to be able to just do what you're told?' Mac, Bozer and Riley exchanged a glance. Matty wasn't seriously ripping into Mac for this, was she? Their boss smiled, first with a bit of mischief in her eyes, then in a very fondly exasperated, yet also very proud way. A bit like a mother, a voice in Mac's head contributed. 'Good work.' Her smile widened a little more. 'All three of you.'

Matty walked over and took a seat next to Bozer, who offered her some goldfish crackers. She took a handful, as Bozer started telling her all about their 'adventure.'

Meanwhile, Mac and Riley glanced at Jack, who was leaning against the wall, looking a little lost in thought.

He smiled at the two of them when he noticed them looking, and came over to steal some of Riley's pretzels, but still didn't seem quite _there._

Over the top of Jack's head as he bent to rummage through the snacks, doubtlessly searching for his favourite, jalapeno beef jerky, Mac and Riley exchanged a concerned glance.

* * *

While Bozer, Riley and Matty went out to procure them some decent (not hospital canteen), real dinner, Jack sat by Mac's bedside, not really watching _How It's Made_ with his partner, phone in hand, occasionally glancing at it.

Mac reached out and clicked the pause button. Jack took a moment to notice, which definitely told him he was right to be concerned.

'Matty seems pretty good, considering.'

They'd all been worried about her, what with escorting Ethan, Deena and Mara into protective custody. That couldn't be easy. They knew she'd get through it, because she was Matty the Hun, but still, the only way it wouldn't hurt was if you didn't care, and Matty definitely did.

That seemed to shake Jack out of it. He smiled, soft and fond and a little admiring.

'Yeah, real good, brother. Matty's a tough cookie, and a real good person. She's happy for 'em.' He paused. 'And she got closure. Closure's real important.'

There was something in the way he said _closure_ that made Mac shoot him a _look._ He had a sneaking suspicion that closure had something to do with the way that Jack was constantly taking his phone out, and staring at something that he carefully prevented the others from seeing.

He considered and chose his words carefully.

'And you're lacking closure?'

He gestured with his head pointedly towards Jack's phone.

Jack sighed, putting his phone away.

'Maybe.' He held up a hand to forestall Mac's inevitable questions, gesturing with his head towards the room in general. 'Not here, brother. Later.'

After a moment of staring at him, Mac nodded in acceptance, then pointed at his partner.

'You know I won't forget.'

Jack smiled, soft and fond and exasperated.

'Oh, I know you won't, Mr-I-Got-a-Near-Ideatic-Memory.'

'Eidetic, Jack. The word is eidetic.'

The former CIA agent just gestured at him and made a face as if to say, _see?_

'…Cattail s'mores, Bozer? Seriously?'

'I got a theme going, you know, camping, survival, out in the wilderness, like our ancestors used to live…and you know how trendy s'mores are right now, especially tricked-out ones!

'Not ones that taste like used Q-tips!'

Bozer and Riley's voices could be heard coming down the corridor, and just as they reached the door, Matty chipped in, raising an eyebrow.

'And you know what used Q-tips taste like, Riley?'

Bozer shot Riley a rather smug look, and Riley shook her head, then addressed their boss.

'Trust me, Matty, if you tasted cattails, you'd agree with me.'

* * *

AN: Just a little something-something because I felt the ep ended a touch abruptly, though I get they've got time constraints to work with. (That's what fanfic's for, right?)

Thoughts on 3.13, Wilderness + Survival + Training: I really enjoyed that ep, though it also broke my heart…

The Mac/Bozer/Riley storyline was a good one, methinks, and once again, the show has managed to write what I think is a convincing 'action' plotline using the characters' existing skill-sets (well, with the addition of the fact that Mac was teaching Bozer and Riley about wilderness survival, so they have new wilderness survival skills – but what I mean is that no-one suddenly developed surprising new skills without decent explanation).

The Jack/Matty/Ethan storyline was also very good, in my opinion, though it tugged so much on my heartstrings…poor, poor Matty, but seriously, she's such an amazing, good person (and she really, really did love Ethan, to be happy because he's happy). Perhaps a little oddly, I think both Matty and Deena came off really well in the ep (I really liked that little moment with the two of them and Mara), but Ethan seems a bit of an ass for not telling Deena about Matty – I totally understand why he didn't tell her he'd been married when he was undercover in Cyprus (and he shouldn't have told her, for his safety, hers and Mara's), but he really should have told her the truth after.

As for the little thing about Kovacs – I guess that's how Jack is going to be written out of the show. I reckon they'll be ambushed by Kovacs in the next ep. I strongly suspect that the most likely outcome is that Jack will go off to hunt down Kovacs (though how they're going to explain the fact that Mac is not going with him without making it OOC, I don't know, nor do I know how they'll explain him not coming back once Kovacs is gone, except for making him so elusive that it takes the rest of Jack's life or however long this show runs). Personally, I am not so much a fan of that idea (for the aforementioned reasons – they might be able to sell him going it alone/without Mac and support from the team – you know, 'I gotta clean up my own mess', but trying to sell him never returning, because the hunt is indefinite or something is a lot harder, I think); I still vote for Jack-is-injured-saving-Mac's/Riley's-life-and-retires-to-live-a-happy-peaceful-life-with-Diane, but that might be too much of a neat, happy ending…


End file.
